Morocco's King to Netanyahu: Opening embassies is the 'natural next step'

Date07 January 2021
Published date07 January 2021
AuthorSARAH CHEMLA
Publication titleJerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)
The King of Morocco responded positively when Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat raised the embassy issue in a meeting in Rabat two weeks ago.

During their visit to Rabat in which White House Special Advisor Jared Kushner led an Israeli-US delegation, the Israel and Morocco however only committed to reopening the liaison offices.

This week, an Israeli delegation visited Rabat to inspect Israel's former liaison office, which was shut down 20 years ago, but that is still owned by the Israeli government, Axios said, adding that Morocco also held onto its property in Tel Aviv, and a Moroccan delegation made a similar visit there last week to see if the office could be reopened on a short timetable.

If Morocco would rather reopen liaison offices rather than embassies, Axios said, it could be because Morocco was waiting to see if the Biden administration would roll back Trump's recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara before going all the way with Israel.

Israel's normalizing relations with the royal palace and Morocco's King Mohammed VI has been a work in progress for many years now. These efforts became public knowledge when the late prime minister and defense minister Yitzhak Rabin openly visited Morocco, which culminated with the opening of liaison offices in Tel Aviv and Rabat.

Morocco re-established diplomatic relations with Israel in December, within the framework of the Abraham Accords, through which the US had also...

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